Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Disaster At The Dollar Store


On Friday we were leaving for Moscow around 1:00pm. I had purposely packed and loaded the van the night before so we would not be faced with any last minute fiascoes resulting in us leaving late. I keep learning the hard way, that all the planning and preparation in the world will not result in a smooth without chaos and stress departure. Following is what the morning was supposed to look like...following that is what actually happened.
7:00 am - Breakfast
7:45 am - Brant out the door
8:00 am - Kids dressed (I laid out their clothes the night before..socks, shoes, belts etc!)
8:30 am - Kids watch PBS Kids, I finish getting ready and clean kitchen
9:30 am - Take kids to SPORTS Gym, for open gym (drain the energy before a 4hr car ride)
10:45 - Start packing up to leave gym.
11:00 - Run to the Dollar Store to buy a birthday party gift for Tage's little friend.
11:30 - Swing by Taco Bell for lunch
12:00 - Drop Tage off at birthday party
12:00-1:00 Swing by Hooked on Toys to get each little kiddo a "special" car toy. Brant wanted to bless the kids because they had been doing so well at school.
1:30 - Swing by pick up Brant and Tage and head out of town.

Everything was running smoothly until we hit the Dollar Store...
I ran into the Dollar Store (D.S.) planning to buy color books and crayons and of course they didn't have any! It is really hard to change your plans in the D.S. with four little kiddos at your heels. I ran and got a cart knowing it would take a little longer than planned, plopped Ben in the cart and then reminded the kiddos that they needed to stay with me and to keep their little grabbers to themselves. I know all you moms have had this same little chat with your kids. My kiddos nodded their heads and smiled with little "yes mams"...so cute! All was good we decided on sidewalk chalk and chalk holders, got a cute little gift bag and went on our way to the dreaded D.S. check out. I don't know if any of you shop at the D.S. but good grief! Those people take an eternity to check you out! While I was waiting in the most ridiculous line ever I was going over in my mind whether I had time to get lunch before the party since things were taking longer than planned when I noticed the boys were missing from line. I was quick to leave the line only to discover the boys were right around the corner. Do you think any of those people were going to let me back in line...nope...there goes lunch. I finally got checked out and at this point I was rushing the kids, telling them all the way to the car that I need their help getting into buckles quickly etc. so we would not be late. Tage was especially willing since he did NOT want to miss the pirate party! I was digging through my purse as I was directing the kids, digging, digging, and digging. I sat them all on the curb (Ben too) and dumped my purse out on the sidewalk looking for those most prized KEYS~! When all of a sudden I remembered giving them to Ben to hold when I put him in the cart...this is where I heard that three beat scary movie sound in my head while my heart dropped into my stomach and Tage said were not going to the party. I also remembered that as I was leaving the D.S. I had taken Ben out of the cart and someone was right there waiting to take it. I was SURE the keys were in the cart, I yelled at the kids to follow me and seriously sprinted into the store hoping to run that person down and get my keys...NO SUCH LUCK...Agggg....I started pulling out all the carts that were so nicely stacked together when someone (not an employee) asked if I needed help. I announced in a much stressed tone that my keys were being pushed around in a cart somewhere in the D.S. The highly intelligent D.S. people never offered to help they all just stood and stared until I suggested to a manager that they ask over the intercom for everyone to look in their carts for lost keys. I had no idea what time it was but I knew we were late. Tage was standing at the exit stopping everyone and looking in their carts. I realized at one point that my cell-phone was locked in my car and that Brant was in the middle of teaching class...I was at this point on the verge of tears, sweating profusely, chasing Ben all over until Tage came to the rescue! I have to say that right before Tage saved the day I prayed and asked God to just make the keys appear right out of no where...that a miracle was what I needed! Then I explained to Tage that the keys were lost, the phone was locked in the car and I had no way of going anywhere or getting a hold of anyone. He and Simon ran out to the van, remembering I had left the window down a crack, Tage stuck is long skinny arm in the window, unlocked the door, and appeared with my phone. Praise God! I got a hold of my sister and she was on her way to save me when this lady, scary I might add, showed up out of no where and asked if I had lost some keys...she found them in a cart in the parking lot!!!! Despite her appearance I really wanted to hug her! I thanked her over and over again. After all that I didn't make it to the toy store, we grabbed lunch in the car on our way out of town and we left half and hour late. Oh, Tage did make it to the party, he was late, but made it and had a blast.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Tell Me What You Think

I have been trying to figure out what to do in my header box. I have been tossing around the idea of trying to design a graphic to go inside the box with my title, but then thought maybe a picture of the kiddos would fun and to be honest much easier and faster. So I am asking you what you think of the picture in the header box. Is it to big...if so it may have to stay that way because that goes beyond my HTML know how, which then may mean we will have to take the graphic route. Any thoughts?

Monday, April 21, 2008

Jr. Ridge 2 River

What a blast this turned out to be! Tage did an awesome job in the kayak considering he had never paddled before! The water was freezing and the wind was blowing so the kids had to really work hard at keeping the kayak strait. Tage actually paddled backwards for about half the lagoon...but hey...he passed people and didn't cap-size. All-in-all we consider that a success!

Wearing sunglasses like mom.
The Fast, Fast, Fast (orange) team and Speed Eagles (yellow) team
Brant and team Fast, Fast, Fast
Fast, Fast, Fast coming into the finish line
Tage in the kayak.
Go Buddy!

Friday, April 18, 2008

Making Time..


I am making a little time to share my car ride with you. I had just picked up the kids at school and we were driving around to kill a little time before lunch. I went and got a coffee and all 5 kiddos (we had Lexi) got RED Tootsie-Pops from our favorite coffee gal. I decided we were going to go look at all the beautiful flowering trees in our neighborhood, and then I remembered the Presbyterian church parking lot up the road has rows and rows of the most amazing flowering trees. Here are some of the comments from the kids.

Mom: Oh my aren’t those trees absolutely beautiful!
Simon: They look like they’re dancing!
Alexis: Look at all those beautiful dandy-lions on the ground! Kendra would love to come and pick those!
Tage: I think those trees are so beautiful!
Violet: I like pink!
Ben: Baseball! (which is what he says whenever he is excited about anything!)

Mom: I’m going to stop here and take a picture…

…as were driving off…

Simon: I think they’re waving bye!
All Kiddos: By trees

It was so sweet! The wind was blowing like crazy which made it look like the trees were dancing and waving bye.
Have a great weekend

Just a little busy...

I just wanted to let you know we have not dropped off the face of the earth! We have been running from one practice to the next, and then from one game to the next...we have a loaded weekend with company...more friends from Moscow wooohooo...plus Sat morning Tage's kindergarten class is competing in Jr. Ridge to River. It is an outdoor relay where kids run, kayak, bike, and do an obstacle course. We have 10 little kiddos competing...I'll be sure to post pics on Sunday. Have a great weekend!

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Chaos at Simon's First T-Ball Game

Our happy little Simon!
Look at all these little guys! A sea of green! And...they all get to bat each inning! There are 4 innings!
This was actually quite a hit!
Click on this picture to see his expression..it's so funny
Wondering aimlessly~!

There is actually a bit to say here. I do want to say first that this is just t-ball and it is all in good fun. We want the boys out being active, learning how to be on a team and make friends, and learn some basic baseball fundamentals...With that said, here goes an explanation of Simon's first game.

First, Simon really thinks he is playing in some very serious baseball league, which is actually very funny when you watch his team and view these pictures. The whole this is really kind of like herding cats. It's messy and in some ways completely out of control. First of all there are a ton of little 4-6 year olds on his team, most of which have NO CLUE how to play baseball. What this means is there needs to be constant instruction on where to stand, how to hold the bat, which way to swing, and of course where and when to run. In addition to the batting chaos the fielding is really something else...there is usually always a hit since they are hitting off the "T"...once the ball is somewhere on the field there are about 15 little guys diving for the baseball, tackling each other and doing what ever they can to get the ball. Once one little guy comes up with the ball there is no one to throw it to since they are all semi-knocked out from all the diving and commotion to get the ball in the first place. Parents, grand-parents and neighbors are yelling at the little guys telling them what to do and where to run and the kids end up just standing in the out-field dumb-founded at what to do next. It is actually quite exhausting to watch. Then to top it all off...the uniforms are unbelievable. It's not like we don't already look like a total mess, but some how who ever ordered the uniforms got mixed up and ordered the little guys adult size m shirts and adult size hats. So now we have 17 little guys running around in 17 different directions with shirts down to their ankles and hats covering their entire heads...I would say if we continue down this road there will be no college scouts looking to recruit our little guys in the future! But really that is OK, because we have gotten a great laugh out of it AND Simon has NO IDEA what a crazy mess the whole thing is. He has worn his enormous shirt and hat almost every day since his game and sees pictures of himself and makes little comments like "I look so cool" and "I hit that ball really far"...It's all good in his little world and that's all that matters. Enjoy the pics!

Saturday, April 5, 2008

Did I Mention Baseball Started?




Here are some pics of baseball practice! Tage has his first game Monday and then Simon later in the week ( I don't have the schedules right here with me). Enjoy the pics, I LOVE the one of Simon watching Tage through the fence! My boys are getting big...YIKES!

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Anybody Want To Buy A Raffle Ticket...or 2


Hey all family and friends...here is my sales pitch (ha ha) for some Mariners Luxury Box raffle tickets. Both Tage and Simon are playing baseball this spring and the Wenatchee Youth Baseball club is holding a raffle for Mariners tickets as a fund raiser. What do you get if you win? 5 seats in the Luxury Box, food and free parking at the game. There will be 4 winners so a total of 20 tickets will be given away. The game is against the Cleveland Indians on Sunday, July 20th at 1:10pm. The raffle tickets are cheap! Only $5 bucks a piece, so give me a call or pop me an email and let me know how many you want to buy! Oh, and if the boys sell lots (i don't know how many) they get all kinds of cool prizes, the top being more seats to a Mariners game in August...maybe we could invite the person who purchased the most tickets from us...hmmmm...just a thought.


I'll post the boys game schedules and some pics of them playing later this week. Let us know if any of you would like to come cheer on the little guys in t-ball or rookie baseball (pitching machine).


Happy Spring! It's supposed to be 60 degrees here tomorrow! Quite a change from the snow we had on Sat and Sun!